NECK-BREAK­ING

NECK RINGS

Partly to ex­press their tribal iden­tity, women of the Kayan tribe of South­east Asia have his­tor­i­cally worn metal neck rings to give the il­lu­sion of an elon­gated neck. This process be­gins when they are as young as five, and as the child grows, more coils are added. This has the ef­fect of forc­ing the col­lar­bone and ribcage down­wards, lead­ing to bruis­ing and de­for­ma­tion.